China taunts ‘US pawns’ with economic benefits

China’s state-owned media has taunted the Obama administration to prove to countries in its “anti-China alliance" that joining with the US will be more profitable than working with China.

The nationalist Global Times newspaper said this week’s news of strengthened military ties between Australia and the US, as well as the US and the Philippines, had brought “great pressure" on China and it was expected that China would have to take “countermeasures".

“Stopping it is not realistic, but it is equally unrealistic to expect China to stand idly by and indulge Asian countries as they join the US alliance to guard against China one by one," the newspaper boomed.

For Australians unfamiliar with Chinese media, this is everyday grist for the mill from the Global Times. Rarely does a day goes by when it isn’t editorialising against a country seen to have aggrieved China.

The newspaper, known as the Fox News of China, has delivered the harshest criticism of the US’s new policy in Asia, including the strengthened military ties with Australia.

The paper has questioned whether the renewed US focus in Asia can deliver the region the benefits that China’s growth can.

A prominent change is that the US is intensifying action in the Asia-Pacific region and is encouraging China’s neighbouring countries to challenge China. This is a new application of soft power.

“If an ‘anti-China alliance’ is really built in Asia, the US should provide more economic benefits to its followers. It should convince those countries that joining the US is more profitable. Only providing verbal support for sovereignty issues in disputed waters and signing agreements to provide security protection is far from enough."

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It continued: “Any country which chooses to be a pawn in the US chess game will lose the opportunity to benefit from China’s economy. This will surely make US protection less attractive."

China Daily also took a shot at the US newly minted policy in Asia ahead of the East Asia Summit in Bali.

The newspaper editorial said China supported the Association of South East Asian nations’ lead role in the region and said “countries from the outside" should play a “positive and constructive role" in regional affairs.

Beijing is sensitive to US involvement in key issues such as the ongoing dispute over contested waters in the South China Sea. Vietnam and the Philippines both claim sovereignty over parts of the South China Sea, but vessels from both countries have been harassed by Chinese vessels.

China claims to have “indisputable" sovereignty over the South China Sea. The Philippines has responded by renaming the body of water the West Philippines Sea.

“This is especially relevant given that one or two nations in Southeast Asia are courting the support of the United States in their territorial disputes with China over the South China Sea, and the US is keen to further its own economic and security interests in the region," the China Daily editorial said.

“Some countries have tried to use freedom of navigation to murky the waters of the South China Sea issue. But the fact that about half of the world’s sea-borne commerce is conducted via the South China Sea proves such concerns are simply mischief making."

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton claimed last year that “freedom of navigation" through the South China Sea is in the US national interest. Beijing interpreted the comments as an attempt by Washington to “internationalise" the issue.

China believes the issue should be settled through bilateral negotiations between the claimant countries and without the influence of the US.

China Daily also ran a cartoon called “US hegemony"" with a massive Octopus wearing an Uncle Sam hat and waving an American flag sitting atop the world.